226886 F/Lt. Arthur Noel "Butch" Quaile Royal Air Force 419 Sqdn. from:Birkenhead My father was Flight Lieutenant Butch Quaile, RAF, attached to to 419 Moose Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force. He had enlisted on the 10th of September 1939. He was the pilot of Handley Page Halifax VR-S, Happy Valley Sally, which was shot down whilst returning from bombing Modane on the night of 16th/17th of September 1943. He ended up in Stalag Luft III, North Compound, in Sagan, Silesia, now part of Poland but then in Germany. The crew were as follows:
- Pilot F/Lt Butch Quaile, 27 missions, POW RAF
- 2nd Pilot Sgt Bowden, 1 mission, POW RCAF
- Navigator P/O Aspinall, 24 missions, POW RCAF
- Bomb Aimer P/O Graham, 23 missions, Evaded RCAF
- Flight Engineer Sgt. Martin, 24 missions, Evaded RCAF
- Wireless Operator F/S Bright, 2 missions, Evaded RCAF
- Mid Lower Gunner F/O Smith, 15 missions, Evaded RCAF
- Rear Gunner F/Lt Kenyon, 44 missions, POW RAF
This is an extract from his account of his last mission:
There were only two aircraft from 419 on the Modane raid. The main raid was to the railway yards at Modane and our mission was to close or damage the nearby railway tunnel and the pass from Italy to prevent or hinder the German forces withdrawal. Our raid was in conjunction with some aircraft from 617 Squadron, the Dambusters. It should have been a nine hour flight but there was bad icing in cloud at about 11,000 feet (the operation height en route should have been 15,000 ft. + ). We were carrying 2 x 1,000lb and 6 x 500lb high explosive bombs. Over the target area the weather was clear moon light and we attacked at low level. I recollect that we could see the shine of the railway lines. The green target markers were well concentrated and many explosions were seen around these. Once our bombs were released we had to do a steep climbing turn in order to avoid the mountains that were on three sides of the target.
I found out later that 617 had spent a week training for this raid in North Wales, we only had 6 hours’ notice prior to take off with 617. 617 had another raid that night in conjunction with 619 Squadron.
On the way back near Lisieux, France we were picked up by fighters. Smithy opened fire from the mid lower turret before Ley Kenyon joined in. The usual method of fighter attack was to fly below the bomber and attack the underside or the wings by climbing up and stalling away. Ley claimed that one fighter was shot down but this was not confirmed. As soon as the firing commenced I started violent evasive action (corkscrewing) but the two port engines were on fire; we tried to extinguish the fires unsuccessfully. We found that with no thrust on the port engines the aircraft was turning to port, by throttling back on the starboard engines and applying the rudder we just sank steadily. So there was nowt to do but to abandon at 10,000 feet. Fortunately everyone got out, although my ‘chute opened in the plane after the ripchord caught on the throttle lever. I got out eventually and landed in a tree.
My father ended up in Stalag Luft III.
In the early days of 1945 the Russian Forces were advancing rapidly and Hitler ordered that the Prisoners of War Camps in the East of the Nazi occupied territories should be evacuated and the prisoners moved westwards. This was known as the long march. He was lucky enough to survive and he was freed on 2nd May 1945.
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